Bearing eor electric motors and generators



C. W. PARKER. BEAama FOR fizcmlc MOTORS AND (summons.-

M'PLQGATION FILED DEC. 10, IBIB- Patented Oct. 7, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

llllllll l- I INVZENTOR harZeJWlParE'er C. W. PARKER.

BEARING FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS AND GENERATORS. APPLICATION FILED 050.10. l9l8.

1,317,818. Patented Oct. 7,1919.

3 7 2SHLETS-SHEET2.

INVENTOR r- RNEY;

CHARLES WM. PARKER, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

BEARING FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS AND GENERATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. '7, 1919.

Application Med December 10, 1918. Serial No. 866,101.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHAnLns W. PARKER, a citizen of the United States, at present residing at Omaha in the county of Douglas and State of hlebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bearings for Electric Motors and Generators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of electric motor and generator constructions and it particularly relates to the bearings for the shaft of the rotator or rotary element.

The present common practice in the construction of electric motors and generators is to make the armature shaft of steel and to provide bronze or Babbitt or other simllar metal softer than the revolving steel shaft bearings in the stationary frame or end bells of the housing, in which the shaft revolves.

The steel shaft, in use, tends to wear the bearings at a particular point, which is determined by the direction of the belt pull or pressure by driving gear, as the case may be.

This stress causes the bearings to wear in an oval shape, thereby not only throwing the rotator out of true and causing, in time, a wearing contact between the rotator and the stator, which causes injury to the insulation and consequent burning out of the motor, but aiso increasing the friction in the bearings (thus reducing the efficiency of the machine as a whole) and causing, in many cases, the shaft to wear to such an extent that it has to be machined and turned and trued before new bearings can be made.

When it becomes necessary to make new bearings, it changes the dimensions of the shaft from standard. Furthermore, in addition to the machine work on the shaft, it

is also necessary to bush the pul ey or gear that was fastened on the shaft, so that the same can be replaced thereon, and it is also necessary to replace the stationary bearing with another bearing, the hole of which is true and of a reduced diameter, made neces-r sary by the cutting down of the shaft to the lesser dimension in truing the same.

To remove the bearin from the housing or end bells of present ay electric motors and generators, in many cases, require special bolts and steel washers or other tools to draw or pull the bearings out of the end bells or housing in which they are usually fitted with force.

Thus it is not only an expensive and tedious job to refit a motor unit bearing (or that of a generator) but it leaves the maghine out of use for a considerable length of Again, in the old practice, where it is necessary to turn down the worn shaft end and fit a bearing in the end hell or housing of less diameter than that of the shaft, the bearing surface area is proportionately re duced, thus throwin a greater bearing strain on the refitted s aft and bearing than the ori inal design of the machine called for an consequently the danger of burning the bearings and wear on the same and the shaft is proportionately increased.

, My present invention articularly has for its ob ect to avoid the ob ections above noted and to provide a bearin in which adequate provision is made first or proper and effective lubrication, so as to reduce the wear to the lowest possible degree, and secondly provision is made, whereby, when it does become necessary to true up the bearings or to take care of the wear in the same, it can be done in a minimum of time with minimum effort and at minimum expense.

To this end, therefore, my invention provides a bearing wherein the construction of the steel shaft and its size remain, at all times, standard, the end bells or housings remaining the same as in present practice but the bearings, which are sustained bythe end bells or housings, are made of steel, case hardened, and provided with rifle oil channels inside of the same and also provided with sockets or slots and a guard for holding oil r ngs in place to bring oil from the bearmg reservoir to the bearing surfaces; the steel shaft is providedwith a bronzed sleeve (or other similar metal softer than the case hardened steel outer bearin which sleeve is forced-onto the steel sha t with a neat fit and it has a thrust collar, at its inner end, which is provided with a covered ke groove to fit a key on the shaft, the shaft aving a shoulder against which the collar of the sleeve fits and the latter having its adjacent edge beveled to form, in connection with the shaft shoulder, an oil throw-off groove to prevent oi] siphoning out of the bearing and creeping to the armature windings.

Eli

The invention also resides in those novel features of construction, combination, and aran ement of parts, all of which will be first' nlly described and then be specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference bein had to the accompanying drawings, in w ich:

igure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section and art elevation showing my invention and i lustrating the manner of removing the shaft for replacement of sleeves.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the housin or end bell, its steel insert bearing and t e steel shaft, the shaft being shown in elevation with parts broken away.

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 33 on Fig. 2, lookingin the direction of the arrow.

Fig. 4 is a detail cross section on the line 3-3 on Fig. 2, looking in the direction opposite that of the arrow. i

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view wlth parts in section of the shaft and its removable sleeve.

F i 6 is a side elevation of the end hell or housing bearing element, the manner of inserting the oil rings into the slots being indicated.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the wearing tendency of motor bearings.

In the drawin s in which like numerals and letters of re erenc-e designate like parts in all the figures, 1 represents the shaft which has a reduced end 2 to provide shoulders 3, adjacent to which are keys 4.

5 indicates a bearin sleeve of a material which is of lesser har ness than that of the bearing surface with which it cotiperates, so as to take the wear of the bearing. The sleeve 5 is fitted onto the shaft end 2 with a tight or snug fit and it is provided with a collar-or head 6 of greater diameter than the sleeve, to form a shoulder 7, to take the and thrust of the shaft against the outer bearing member, the collar 6, where it abuts the shoulder 3, having its ed e beveled, as at 8, whereby creeping oil w en it reaches the groove formed by the bevel 8, will be thrown off by the centrifugal action of the rotation of the shaft and returned to the reservoirlO without creeping along the main rtion of the shaft and getting into the windings of the armature.

It will be observed that the keyl 4 is of a predetermined length, less than t e length of thecollar 6. The purpose of this is to allow for end thrust wear on the collar 6 to take place without. the key 4 coming into engagement with the end of the outer bearing member, in the event that the sleeve 5 becomes worn to such an extent that the key t will project radially a greater distance than the outer or worn surface of the sleeve 5. This is important for the reason that the sleeve 5 may wear down very thin and,

in fact, so far as to practicall consume it before replacement is absolute y necessary.

In that event, the key 4 would project beyond alinement with the hole'of the outer bearing and, if no provision were made to allow or the end thrust wear to the proper degree, the key 4 would scratch or scrape the end of the outer bearing and dama e it to such an extent that its end face wou d have to be turned down a ain to provide a smooth bearing surface and this is to be avoided, since it is one of the principal objects of my invention to avoid the necessity of removing the outer or fixed bearing fromthe end hell. or housing and to avoid the necessity of doing any work on that bearing in order to make replacements.

9 designates the end bell or housing which is provided with an oil reservoir 10 and is bored at 11 to receive the outer bearing 12, the outer bearing 12 being of steel, case hardened, so as to wear to little or no extent. The bearing 12 is bored at 13 for the sleeve 5 and is provided with end oil stopping annular grooves 14, those at one end communicating with those at the other and through rifle grooves 15, see Figs. 1 and 6.

16 designates slots which are spaced a predetermined distance from the central or'sustaining portion of the bearing and are ada ted to receive oil rings 20 (whose outer sur aces are knurled as at 21) which lie on the sleeve 5 and, through the rotation of the shaft, are turned to carry the oil from the reservoir 10 to the bearing surface of the sleeve 5, which, in turn, distributes it, through the oil grooves, to the bearing surfaces.

In order to prevent the rings 20 from throwing oil, I provide lugs 18 which project over the slots 16 slightly, as at 19, the surface of the bearing between the slot 16 and the central sustaining portion being rounded or beveled as at 17, so that in 'insertin the rings, they ma be easily slipped in an or the lugs 19, as in icated in Fig. 6.

It will be observed that by m construction and arrangement of parts, t e wear on the hearin is reduced to the minimum through'e active lubrication and adequate provision is made to take care of any end thrust (which is always slight when compared to the bearin wear due to rotation), so that, when wear oes occur, all danger of injurin the outer bearing is avoided, it being un erstood that the p use of the key .4 is to look the sleeve 5 against rotation on the shaft 1.

Now, in order to replace a worn bearing, with my construction of parts, it is not necessa to remove the fixed bearing 12 from the end hell or' housin in which it is shrunk or secured by bein riven into place with a very tight fit an held against rotation by a set screw 22 or other suitable means. It is namsm .has been removed.

The sleeves 5 are then driven off by the application of a suitable tool in the groove formed by the shoulder 3 and bevel 8 and new sleeves 5 are put in place, after which the parts are reassembled in the reverse order of that above mentioned and the motor will be read for use again, it bein understood that t e pulley or gear is rep aced on the shaft without the necessity of any machine work or rebushing.

In practice, an extra set of sleeves 5 can be furnished with each motor or generator, so that, if at any time, it is necessary to re.- place the sleeves, it can be done with minimum shut down of the motor or generator.

It will be seen that, with my construction, labor, expense and time necessary to effect a repair or replacement of motor bearings is reduced to a minimum and where the bearings are used on generators which require constant running, the time saved in making the repairs is a great factor, since it frequently occurs, especially in small power plants, that a shutting down of a generator puts the entire system out of commission for the time being.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings, the construction and advanta es of my invention will be clear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. A bearing for electric motors and the like, which comprises in combination with the shaft having a shoulder, a stationary bearing member, said shaft and said bearing member being composed of hardened metal, and a bearing sleeve of softer metal t1 htly fitted on the shaft and itself having a s oul- 'dered collar engaging the shaft shoulder and the end of the stationary bearing member, and a key in the shaft engaging in a groove in the collar to cause the shaft and sleeve to turn together, said sleeve being designed to take the Wear of the bearing.

2. A hearing for electric motors and the like, which comprises in combination with the shaft having a shoulder, a stationary bearing member, said shaft and said hearing member bein composed of hardened metal, and a bearin sleeve of softer metal tightly fitted on the shaft and itself having a shouldered collar en aging the shaft shoul der and the end of t e stationary'bearing member, and a key in-the shaft engaging in a groove in the collar to cause the shaft and sleeve to turn together, said sleeve being designed to take the wear of the bearing, the end of said sleeve which is adjacent to the shaft shoulder being beveled to act, in cooperation with said shaft shoulder, as an oil throw-off, and means for supplying a lubricant to the bearing surfaces of said sleeve and stationary bearing member.

3. A bearing for electric motors and the like, which comprises in combination with the shaft having a shoulder, a stationary bearing member, said shaft and said bearin member being composed of hardened meta and a bearing sleeve of softer metal tightly fitted on the shaft and itself having a shouldered collar engaging the shaft shoulder and the end of the stationary bearing member, said collar having a groove of less length in the direction of the axis of the sleeve than the thickness of the collar, and a key in the shaft engagin in the groove of the collar to cause the s aft and sleeve to turn together, said sleeve being designed to take the wear of the bearin CHARLES W PARKER. 

